Jowell offers concession on casino plans

Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell today offered a concession to critics of the Government's casino plans in an attempt to head off a backbench rebellion.

Ms Jowell announced that she was accepting an amendment by Labour peer Baroness Golding to create a joint committee of both Houses to consider the Casino Advisory Panel's report on the casino plans.

She said this would enable peers and MPs to consider "what lessons can be learnt" from the decision making process.

But the concession will not delay the current licensing plans or stop the 17 councils affected from starting the licensing competition process.

She was seeking to salvage the Government's plans for a super-casino in Manchester and 16 smaller venues around the country in the face of a possible defeat by MPs and peers when they vote later today.

Ministers were battling today to stop the plans for Britain’s first supercasino being

wrecked by MPs.

By midday, Tony Blair had failed to defuse a Labour revolt sufficiently to avoid the prospect

of the gambling proposals being defeated in the Commons.

Labour whips were launching an eleventh-hour bid to sway backbenchers who threaten to defy the Government’s awarding of the supercasino licence

to Manchester.

Some sources suggested the Government was facing a defeat in single figures as of lunchtime. Others, however, said up to 20 MPs needed to be persuaded to change their minds.

The result of the vote is expected to be close.

Peers were set to reject a government-order, as drafted, allowinga Las Vegas-style gambling

complex and eight large and eight small casinos.

However, they stopped short of killing off Labour’s casino shake-up by backing a non-fatal amendment to the order.

Ministers were hopeful today that the rebel amendment could be further watered down not to

re-open past decisions by the Casino Advisory Panel — the panel which recommended that

the supercasino should be located in Manchester.

Instead, the remit of a joint committee of MPs and peers, which would be set up under

the amendment, would look at the CAP’s process and discover what lessons could be learned

from it. However, it remains unclear whether Tory, Liberal Democrat, Labour and crossbench peers would back such a compromise.

The Prime Minister yesterday held talks with Blackpool MPs who led the rebellion over

Manchester’s winning the supercasino licence. Eight large casinos, including one in Newham, and eight small are also being proposed.

Ministers are understood to have offered Blackpool a regeneration package. However, the

rebels include MPs with strong religious beliefs and some who have voted habitually against

the Government.

Ms Jowell and gambling minister Richard Caborn met MPs last night and were doing so again today in an attempt to avoid a defeat.

However, backbenchers Frank Field and John Grogan wrote to fellow Labour MPs yesterday

urging them to join the revolt. Mr Grogan said: “There is a strong feeling on the Labour

backbenches that we need to rethink our gambling policy and we have gone too far with liberalisation.”

In the Lords, the Lib-Dems are proposing to kill off the order with an amendment tabled by

Lord Clement-Jones. However, the Tories are concerned they could be blamed for sparking a

constitutional clash if they backed such a move.

They were instead planning to support an amendment tabled by Labour’s Baroness Golding

which would be non-fatal on the Government order.

Both Lords and Commons were debating the order this afternoon, starting at 3.30pm, with peers